Stroom Restaurant and Function Rooms, The

Before you even ask, it means a feeding and watering hole for mammals, housed, on this occasion - wait for it - in the former Conservative Club, a coincidence upon which it is happily not the duty of this report to comment, particularly as there are still some Conservatives tucked away there from time to time. Happily the marble mosaic floor has survived to blend in brilliantly with the contemporary design and artwork.

Richard Gibson opened Stroom in 2003 as a modern restaurant, to compliment the two existing function rooms that at one time belonged to the famous Tudor restaurant. The function rooms have since been refurbished to a high standard and cater for civil wedding-partnership ceremonies along with the wedding breakfast and evening disco, they are also available for private parties of any kind and corporate meetings and events.

Richard's extensive travels are reflected in a menu that draws upon a wide variety of cuisines, and as Chef Patron and General Manager he has an overview of the entire operation, which embraces some 300 covers.

Head Chef is the award wining Richard Guitton, as French as his name. Richard has worked across Europe in both small and large restaurants. He came to England in 1988 and settled in Yorkshire. He won an AA Rosette whilst working at the Millburn Arms Hotel near Pickering where he worked alongside Michelin Star chef Andrew Pern, of the Star Inn, Harome.

There are two evening menus from which to choose, the á la carte and the early bird, along with the specials board. There is also a bar lunch menu which is extremely good value. With around nine dishes per course the á la carte menu gives adequate choice, particularly as they tend towards the comfort variety; amongst the starters expect to find duck leg confit salad, smoked chicken and leek terrine or carpaccio of beef with fresh shaved Parmesan and Dijon dressing.

Main courses follow the same familiar pattern with fillet of Yorkshire beef, feuilleté of feta cheese, crispy skin sea bass fillet or steak 'n' ale pie, slow cooked with onions and mushrooms in Tetley's bitter, baked with a suet pastry top. Rhubarb three ways, with rhubarb crumble, rhubarb ice-cream and rhubarb schnapps is the downfall of many, closely followed by a dark chocolate timbale served warm with a soft melted centre and mascarpone cream.

Their early bird options are comprehensive - if a touch complicated - on Saturday, £15.50 for 2 courses and £18 for three, orders by 6.30 pm, Friday £14 and £16.50, pre 7 pm, whilst in the midweek it changes every hour! The really early bird is orders before 7 pm at £12.50 and £15, pre 8 pm £14 and £16.50, and finally the late bird £15.50 and £18 before 9 pm.

The well-priced wine list is reasonably brief but covers an adequate range, starting with house wine at £12 a bottle. At those sort of prices who can be bothered with buying by the glass? And talking of prices there cannot be much better value for money in the area than The Stroom.

It is difficult to give an exact figure for lunch as many people opt for their excellent value bar lunch menu, in which case the cost should be around the £15 mark or even less; however, if the 'á la carte' is your choice then it would tot up to the same sort of bill as in the evening. It is up to you. 

But the real knock-out blow is the staff. How often do reservations about staff cloud an otherwise good review? Here in Pudsey they take care over selection of the right people, follow it up with good training, and the results are there to be seen - and appreciated.

More information, including details about their function room, is available on their Website.